Deborah Coleman was born in Portsmouth, Virginia, and raised in a music-loving military family that lived in San Diego, San Francisco, Bremerton, Washington, and the Chicago area. With her father playing piano, two brothers on guitar, and a sister who plays guitar and keyboard, Coleman picked up the guitar at age eight.
At fifteen, she began performing with a series of rock and R&B bands, starting out as a bass player. However, after hearing Jimi Hendrix, she switched to lead. As her interest in guitar grew, she began listening to rock groups such as the Yardbirds, Cream, and Led Zeppelin, and followed the roots of their music back to the blues.
Today Coleman’s guitar style reflects the influences of Hendrix, Buddy Guy, Freddie King, Albert Collins, and Larry Carlton. Her vocal inspirations are as often found in the singing of Chrissie Hynde and Patti Smith as in the recordings of Bessie Smith, Janis Joplin, Memphis Minnie, and Alberta Hunter.
Putting her career on hold after marrying and raising a daughter, she worked as an electrician. However, reading in Living Blues magazine about the Charleston Blues Festival’s National Amateur Talent Search, Coleman gathered some musicians to back her up and headed to South Carolina. She took first place in the competition and immediately formed her own group and began her solo career as a bandleader and featured performer.
Coleman records for New Moon Records, a Chapel Hill, North Carolina-based label that released her first album, Takin’ A Stand, in 1994. Her discography includes: Where Blue Begins, Soft Place To Fall, I Can’t Lose, and her latest, Livin’ On Love.
2/14/02: Deborah Coleman
